It was the final day of the month and I was in the office early in the morning, as usual, working on a massive project that had been extended due to its complexity and the inability to collect supplementary documentation that could not be secured on a timely basis. As I was working, one of the managing partners of the firm called me on the telephone and asked me to come into his office. I grabbed a pad and pen, prepared to take notes, anticipating to be given another work assignment. When I stepped into his office I noticed the COO was sitting in one of the chairs opposite his desk and instantly I knew something was going on. They informed me that the firm had been discussing my performance over the past several months and regretfully they had decided it was in the best interest of both parties that I be terminated.
What was the egregious act that led the firm to decide a parting of ways was the only solution: it came down to the simple matter of my being unable to sufficiently recognize and embrace the company’s core culture while at the same time engineering another one within my own peer group that ultimately didn’t appeal to management’s tastes.
I recall the interviewing process was fairly intensive consisting of an interview with a senior staff member, an examination, an interview with a manager, and finally an interview with the principal partner. As I proceeded through the process I knew I was doing exceeding well. I remember the principal being really impressed with my naval enlistment, graduation from UCLA, subsequent additional education, and active progression towards a certification some of the other staff personnel were still struggling to obtain. They were clearly vetting me as I proceeded through the selection process to make sure the person-culture fit existed along with the person-job fit. Needless to say, I won them over and late that year I began firm.
That first year with the firm I was a model employee. I was aware I was the new kid on the block, that I had to learn many work processes, and I was quite occupied and exhausted by the additional courses I was taking at night to supplement my work. I felt management was quite pleased with my performance. In fact, during my first annual review one of the managers who reviewed me praised my abilities saying I had some of the best technical skills he had ever seen a staff member possess so early in their career and gave me marks he said he had never given anyone prior. I felt they were quite content with my ability to handle my job’s responsibilities and I also I sensed they hoped my work ethic and immediate progress toward the certification my peers had been having issues obtaining would motivate and encourage the others.
Soon after the second year commenced I passed an initial exam required to obtain that elusive certification and given the initial success and praise coupled with a strong personality, which I had knowingly kept in check that initial year, I had become exceedingly comfortable with my managers and peers, beginning to feel a bit superior to them. Whereas an individual is socialized by his peers expectations, I began passing them so quickly on one front that my expectations began to trump theirs and I no longer felt a strong need to assimilate to the prevailing culture. In my eyes, my peers were weak and unable to sanction me for the deviation in my behavior. I began to challenge my peers even when they may have been seniors leading a particular engagement. For example, even though they requested it, I would question whether we really needed more sampling after already performing what I felt to be sufficient work. I felt staff level camaraderie to be somewhat weak and dull, so I encouraged the staffers to come out and attend happy hour when possible. At the time I was a smoker who had managed to keep my habit away from the workplace; however, I eventually began taking smoke breaks with the only other employee, a seven year veteran at the time, in the office who smoked.
In retrospect, I was unable to fully integrate with the prevailing company culture for two reasons. First, in reality I did not share some of the core social values management believed in. They were socially and politically conservative; I was a liberal. In fact, that second year I did not shy away from political discourse and normally took the left’s perspective. Some of the managers and partners were religious and I was an atheist. They actually have a proverb displayed on the home page of their web site. I recall they encouraged, but did not require, some sort of participation in a bible study group outside of the company. That activity always bothered me; however, I respected their beliefs and never voiced my displeasure to anyone. Not everyone participated and neither did I, but that just shined the light on me even further. Second, the organization did not explicitly state a cultural framework, but there was a basic assumption of a conservative, religious, rigid structure that was “widely shared and deeply held by members of the organization” which my younger self failed to pick up on. I managed to avoid detection and conflict for a good stretch of time, but eventually, as I began to succeed and become encouraged, my true, younger, confident, rebellious side began to surface and take over a weak lower level culture and challenge the overall culture of the small firm. Despite the positive work traits and academic motivation I contributed to the company, the counterculture I was forming was one that management felt would “[hinder] the organization’s ability to execute its strategic objectives.”
Although management failed to explicitly signal the “espoused beliefs and values” of their culture, which I now realize most businesses also fail to do, there may have been steps I could have taken to avoid the oversight. I could have put more emphasis on the implicit signals they were sending. To begin with, I could have developed a more objective understanding of the picture the principal partner had hanging in his office of him and his family posing with George W. Bush. Instead of simply considering him to be a right-wing nut job, I could have instead realized how conservative values may have been important to him. During the only year-end company meeting I attended, I could have again appreciated the conservative meaning behind the location the company selected: the Richard Nixon Library. I also could have just been overt about my curiosity about the culture of the company and asked one or a few of my co-workers to elaborate on their understanding of the culture and the expectations the company had for their employees.
Ultimately, getting fired was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was immature, cocky and letting my early success go straight to my head. I was lost, believing my success as an individual to be more valuable to the company than it really was. I’m certain my managers were happy with my work ethic and with my certification success and the example I was setting for the other staffers who were having difficulty progressing through the process. But getting fired told me I only understood half the story. Today’s professional environments require individuals be able to function interdependently with individuals, teams, and across the organization. And although it is healthy for individuals and teams to have disagreements over work related issues, there cannot be any disagreement over what the common company culture should be. If management has built a culture they feel gives the organization the best chance at success one either has to accept the culture that is in place or, if that is not possible, search for another organization that has a culture one can believe in.

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[ 1 ]. Chatman, Jennifer A., Sandra Eunyoung Cha. “Leading by Leveraging Culture.” Page 248
[ 2 ]. Chatman, Page 244
[ 3 ]. Sorensen. “Note on Organizational Culture.” Stanford Business School. Case OB-69. Page 192 (MGMT 200 Reader)
[ 4 ]. Chatman, Page 254
[ 5 ]. Sorensen, Page 194